


you're stronger than you think

by Blue_Rive



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Grover-centric, Short One Shot, a lil character study in between longer things!, apollo's there, but he's just unconsious for the whole thing, i love all three of these characters a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22323028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Rive/pseuds/Blue_Rive
Summary: “The thing you did back there was cool.” Meg kicks a pebble, letting it go skittering against a wall and back down the ramp.“The-- the panic thing?”“Yeah. How come you don’t do stuff like that more often? You’re really powerful.”“I’m not!” Grover says, because he isn’t! He’s just- just some satyr who messed up his first ever mission so badly it killed two people- or, well, Thalia was alive, now, but close enough- and basically started the Second Titan War. He wasn't who Meg thought he was.---A short character study!
Relationships: Apollo (Percy Jackson) & Grover Underwood, Grover Underwood & Meg McCaffrey
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	you're stronger than you think

**Author's Note:**

> thought i'd write a lil thing that i could update quick! i've never written grover before, but i think it turned out pretty well!

Apollo passes out, because of course he does. Grover’s been trying to  _ go  _ with this whole situation, but some parts of it- he doesn’t  _ like  _ it, okay! He’s annoyed at Meg and Apollo for summoning him from Palm Springs with no care, to y’know, the actual important stuff he has to do there? 

Even though it’s technically Meg’s fault he’s here, he’s a bit more mad at Apollo, and he’s still not sure  _ why.  _ Well, maybe- Apollo’s  _ changed,  _ Grover knows he’s changed!- but so much of this situation feels like when Apollo was a god and interrupted him on his  _ birthday  _ and okay, it wasn’t that big of a deal, his birthday happened every year, but Apollo had been so, so casual and flippant about sending them into mortal danger when he could have just as easily done it himself. Grover doesn’t dislike many people but he thinks that he maybe dislikes Apollo, a little- Grover knows Apollo’s  _ trying,  _ and he’s- Grover is- not the type to hold grudges, but. He didn’t  _ ask  _ to be summoned halfway across the country into a random rooftop garden in Indianapolis!

And now he was stuck in the Labyrinth. He’s had to go in there  _ so many times,  _ and it never gets better! He’s scared of the dark and the way the air feels stale, not fresh and wild like it should-  _ god,  _ he’d even take the polluted air of New York over the underground- and he’s scared of the knowledge that a  _ god  _ could die down here, slowly fading, and never be found and no one- no one would ever know, or believe him. 

Grover’s scared of a lot of stuff. He’s scared of insects and escalators and dogs and Cyclopes and- he’s scared of  _ Apollo,  _ maybe that’s his real feeling there, not resentment- even though there’s not really a reason behind it anymore- sure, he’s harmless and mortal and also seems genuinely kind and caring before his shiny facade, but he’s still the same person that threatened to incinerate Grover and that spooky satyr bedtime stories talked about. 

_ Respect the gods,  _ was always the moral of the story.  _ Don’t ever act like you’re better than them or you’ll end up insane or dead or flayed alive. _

Grover’s always made sure not to act more powerful than he is. 

And- and he’s scared of  _ Meg,  _ even though she’s only- what, twelve? Not that he’s really much older in satyr years than her. He ages slow- he’s always felt a bit young and incompetent, but now he really is- technically- younger than most of his friends.

Meg’s a child of Demeter, and she’s really, really powerful- as much as a kid of the Big Three, definitely, maybe  _ more. _ And Demeter kids were special, even if they weren’t powerful. Nature powers weren’t to be scoffed at!

Meg sidles up to him. She’s carrying Apollo- when he first passed out, she was all worried, but now she’s just sort of- dragging him by the collar, an air to her like ‘can you believe this guy’ that was covering up what seemed like genuine concern. 

“Hey,” she says, startling Grover- in the few days that he’d known her, she’d never seemed like the type to just casually strike up a conversation.

“Um, hi!” he replies a bit nervously. The rings on Meg’s fingers glint, and Grover’s reminded of just how easily they could turn into swords. 

“The thing you did back there was cool.” Meg kicks a pebble, letting it go skittering against a wall and back down the ramp. 

“The-- the panic thing?” 

“Yeah. How come you don’t do stuff like that more often? You’re really powerful.” 

“I’m not!” Grover says, because he  _ isn’t!  _ He’s just- just some satyr who messed up his first ever mission so badly it killed two people- or, well, Thalia was alive,  _ now,  _ but close enough- and basically started the Second Titan War. He wasn't who Meg thought he was.  


“You’re a Lord of the Wild,” Meg says, sounding confused. “Apollo  _ said  _ you were. And that you could do magic and stuff.” 

“Well, yeah-” 

“So why don’t you, more often?” 

Grover shrugs- he can’t think of a good answer, and it’s throwing him off. He’s scared of being overconfident, he thinks. 

The tunnel above them gives way to light, and Grover can’t help but grin- they were finally out of the Labyrinth, and these terrible few days were about to end.

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment if you liked!!


End file.
